The newest Dymo desktop characterization printer, the Dymo LabelWriter Wireless ($149.99), is commensurable in amount and appearance to Brother’s QL-810W, which itself is a footfall bottomward from our Editors’ Choice, the QL-820NWB. The LabelWriter Wireless is abundant like the Brother QL-810W in that they both accept accomplished characterization architecture and book software for PCs and adaptable devices, and you can affix to either via Wi-Fi or USB. However, the Brother archetypal is somewhat slicker in a few key ways: It comes with an automatic cutter, as able-bodied as abutment for an addition array that makes the printer anatomic area adeptness is unavailable. Alike so, the LabelWriter Wireless is a awful capable, networkable characterization architecture and book system, authoritative it a adapted addition to the Brother QL-810W as a home-based or baby appointment labeling solution.

The LabelWriter Wireless is accessible in one of two colors: white or black. On both versions, the belly (where the controls are located) is belted with a chic argent (or dark-gray) adorning band. For what it is, the LabelWriter Wireless looks stylish. However, while demography it out of the box for my antecedent inspection, the aboriginal affair I noticed was that it feels alveolate and, well, plastic-like.

Given that the LabelWriter Wireless measures 4.9 by 5 by 8 inches (HWD) and weighs 3.1 pounds; award a abode to put it shouldn’t be difficult, but afresh again, that’s the case with best desktop characterization printers. The Brother QL-810W, for instance, measures 5.7 by 5 by 9.2 inches and weighs alone 2.4 pounds, as does its costlier sibling, the Brother QL-820NWB, authoritative them both hardly abate and lighter than the LabelWriter Wireless.

Both the Brother models appear with an cyberbanking cutter that you can set to cut automatically afterwards anniversary characterization or at the end of anniversary book job. The LabelWriter Wireless’s cutter, on the added hand, consists of a denticulate brand that spans the amplitude of the achievement slot, and you breach the labels off (either one characterization at a time as you book or at the end of a book job), manually, abundant like acid a area of aluminum antithesis from the brand added to the box in which the antithesis is packaged. While this method—tearing the labels off their roll–may assume somewhat awkward (especially if you’re acid one characterization at a time), from an adeptness standpoint, it works able-bodied enough; not already did I lose a characterization to a bad tear. That said, the Brother models’ cyberbanking cutter is abundant added advantageous and convenient.

As with best of its competitors, you architecture your labels for columnist from PCs with the LabelWriter Wireless’s arranged software (aptly dubbed Dymo Characterization Software), or from tablets and smartphones with the Dymo Affix Adaptable App. Thus, the LabelWriter Wireless neither has (nor needs) abundant of a ascendancy panel; in this case, the controls abide of three ons—power, Advance, and Back—and two cachet LEDs (power on and Wi-Fi). Advance and Aback acquiesce you to augment the characterization media aback and alternating in the achievement aperture for alignment and cutting.

Setting up the LabelWriter Wireless to affix wirelessly is a snap, but during my testing I additionally set it up to use the included USB cable, which angry out to be somewhat of an ordeal. Let’s attending at application Wi-Fi, first, though, which consists of unboxing the unit, loading the included amateur cycle of bare labels, and installing the software on your PC. Afterwards you get the printer itself unboxed and acquainted into a adeptness source, the easiest way to affix it to your Wi-Fi arrangement is with Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS), area you affix the accessory in catechism to your wireless router with the blow of two ons, one on the printer and one on the router itself.

Now that the printer is on your network, you download the adapted drivers and software by abyssal to the printer’s URL (which is appointed in the Getting Started material). This starts Dymo’s Quick Setup Wizard, which in about-face downloads the drivers and configures the connection. Next, you go to support.dymo.com to download and install Dymo Characterization Software, and now you’re accessible to architecture and book labels.

Configuring the drivers to use a USB affiliation isn’t about as aboveboard (nor is it laid out able-bodied in the arranged documentation). Getting it done adapted that I await on Windows Plug ‘n’ Play’s adeptness to analyze the device, and afresh chase the web, first, to acquisition the adapted drivers, and afresh afresh to download and install Dymo Characterization Software. This all formed as it should have, but if you’re accustomed with this chiral process, it may not complete like abundant of a chore; my affair is that abounding of today’s abeyant users are acclimatize to added automatic accession procedures. I should additionally point out that, in accession to Wi-Fi and a absolute affiliation via USB, the Brother QL-820NWB additionally supports Ethernet, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi Absolute (for a routerless peer-to-peer arrangement affiliation amid the printer and adaptable accessories in aing proximity), thereby accouterment a abundant added ambit of connectivity options than the LabelWriter Wireless.

Dymo’s characterization architecture software is a little rudimentary, compared with Brother’s software. For one thing, I begin that it generally adapted several added accomplish to get the above results. For instance, neither the desktop software nor the adaptable app can admit which characterization blazon is loaded in the printer. The Brother software, on the added hand, accustomed the bare characterization blazon and presented me with an appropriately formatted arrangement to get me started. In addition, Brother’s templates continuously reformatted themselves as I worked, admitting the Dymo templates did not. The basal band in all this is that while I was able to architecture and book labels in Dymo’s software able-bodied enough, I begin Brother’s programs (the PC software and the adaptable app) easier to use.

As for bare characterization rolls, Dymo offers about 40 characterization sizes up to 25⁄16 inches wide, in both cardboard and artificial media types and several altered colors, including clear. To amount a role in your printer, you artlessly accessible the top of the machine, aish and acclimatize the cardboard cycle ball to board the admeasurement on hand, augment the end of the bare cycle into the augment slot, and columnist the Advance on to augment the media through the printhead and out through the achievement slot. It’s all absolutely quick and efficient. You’re now accessible to book labels.

Dymo ante the LabelWriter Wireless at 71 labels per minute (lpm), which is the above appraisement as a few of its predecessors, including the Dymo LabelWriter Turbo 450 and the LabelWriter 4XL. Brother, on the added hand, ante its QL-810W and QL-820NWB at 110 one-color argument labels (the Brother models can additionally book in red, or atramentous and red). I activated the LabelWriter Wireless over USB from our accepted Intel Core i5-equipped testbed PC active Windows 10 Professional.

The LabelWriter Wireless printed three-line “standard abode labels,” at a amount of about 67.8lpm.That’s beneath than 1lpm slower than the Dymo 450 Turbo and about 30lpm slower than Brother’s QL-820NWB and QL-810W, as able-bodied as 25lpm slower than Brother’s QL-800, a non-networkable adaptation of the Brother QL-800-series discussed throughout. The Leitz Icon Smart Labeling System, addition networkable desktop labeler in this class, printed agnate accepted abode labels (though not as attractively) at 116lpm, outpacing the LabelWriter Wireless by about 50lpm. All that said, how fast the LabelWriter Wireless will book for you depends on several factors, including foremost on what you’re printing.

As for book quality, back I printed accepted address, book folder, and barcode labels, the LabelWriter Wireless’s achievement looked fine. Unlike the Brother models discussed here, though, the Dymo apparatus didn’t do as able-bodied with grayscales and tints. I additionally saw bigger kerning and added letter- and line-spacing from some of Dymo’s 42 accurate blazon styles over others, but overall, the LabelWriter Wireless’s book affection is aloft adequate for a characterization printer.

Given the types, sizes, quantities, and several added factors, zeroing in on a amount per characterization (CPL) is conceivably alike added of a affective ambition than is advancing up with a accepted book speed. Back I did the algebraic (using Dymo’s prices from its website) to amount out the per-label amount of columnist a 11⁄8-by-31⁄2 white accepted abode characterization from a cycle of 350 die-cut labels, it came to about 2.3 cents per label. That’s not bad at all, because that columnist a agnate characterization on any of the Brother printers discussed actuality will run you about 3.9 cents each.

You can get alike lower active costs by purchasing your bare characterization rolls in quantities. Affairs 80 of the above rolls will save you aloof over $2 per roll, which will bead the CPL by aloof over 25 percent—but that, of course, isn’t bound to alone Dymo characterization purchases. Added characterization printer makers action abundance discounts, too.

Once you’ve taken the time to get the adhere of Dymo’s rustic little characterization architecture affairs and/or adaptable app, creating labels and columnist them out should be simple; although you do get somewhat bigger blueprint accoutrement and, as a result, a little added attractive-looking labels, from Brother’s software. While Brother’s QL-series characterization makers may be hardly above and a bit added able in some ways, both systems get the job done quickly, and after a lot of fuss.

What I like best about the Dymo LabelWriter Wireless, though, is that the characterization book media—the bare tapes or characterization rolls—do, back you’re careful about what you buy, get the job done for beneath money. If you’re planning on columnist hundreds, conceivably alike bags of labels advancing and for a while, the Dymo LabelWriter Wireless characterization printer should save you some money on active costs, which seems like acumen abundant to accede it as a applicable labeling arrangement for your home-based or baby appointment or workgroup.

Bottom Line: The Dymo LabelWriter Wireless churns out labels in abundant shapes, colors, and sizes at a aggressive per-label cost.